A portrait of workers in exile. An empathetic encounter with people who have lost their past and their future, locked in the recurring present. ZIAD KALTHOUM creates an essay documentary of...
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After he completed his mandatory military service, the filmmaker was held in retention as the revolution unfurled in his country. His military rank was that of a sergeant. During these ... See full summary »

"I want to give a view of the world that can only emerge by not pursuing any particular theme, by refraining from passing judgment, proceeding without aim. Drifting with no direction except... See full summary »

Mrs. Géquil is a teacher despised by her colleagues and students. On a stormy night, she is struck by lightning and faints. When she wakes up, she feels different. Will she be able to keep the powerful and dangerous Mrs. Hyde contained?

Storyline

A portrait of workers in exile. An empathetic encounter with people who have lost their past and their future, locked in the recurring present. ZIAD KALTHOUM creates an essay documentary of Syrian construction workers building new skyscrapers in Beirut on the ruins caused by the Lebanese civil war. At the same time their own houses are being bombed in Syria. A Curfew prohibits them from leaving the construction site after work. Every night in their pit below the skyscraper the news from their homeland and the memories of the war chase them. Mute and imprisoned in the cement underground, they must endure until the new day arrives where the hammering and welding drowns out their nightmares.

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A group of Syrians have escaped their war torn country to the safety of Beirut, Lebanon, where they work on a construction site. As a result of a government curfew on refugees, their only contact with the outside world is a hole in the concrete through which they pass to begin their day at work. That is how the film is billed but it's reality offers much more depth and insight into the turmoil suffered by Syrian refugees.

Narrated by one of the construction workers, the film is unique in the fact that we are never truly introduced to the protagonist, nor is there dialogue amongst the characters. The 85-minute film is simply explained using a few sentences interspersed between heavy imagery and symbolism.

Spanning the lifecycle of concrete, the film shows the daily life of the construction workers who live in the basement of the site on which they are building a 22-floor skyscraper.

We are told that at first they believed that they lived below Beirut for 12 hours of the day and soared above it for 12. However it is evident as time passes that this is not the case; Beirut is always rises above them even as they stand tens of metres above its coast.

The workers are trapped on site and live in squalor. They have no hopes and appear to go about their lives almost in robotic style which is broken only by nightly updates regarding the death and destruction taking place in their homeland.

The narrator relays the story of his relationship with his father who also worked as a construction worker in Beirut. Concrete has featured heavily throughout his life, he explains, "we could taste the concrete in every bite my father fed us".

After his father retired and returned to Syria to rebuild the family home, the war broke out and once again the lead character was forced to eat concrete, this time as a result of an air strike which left him buried under rubble.

Throughout his narrative the damage caused by the war, and the subsequent collapse of piles of concrete, are juxtaposed against the work at the construction site and how new lives were being built in Lebanon as lives were being destroyed across the border.

The emotive footage will strike a cord with viewers, in particular scenes of children crying out from beneath the rubble as rescue workers use their bare hands to claw threw the damage to find them.

The Syrian tragedy, loss of life and subsequent isolation suffered by refugees are apparent throughout the film, while the footage used is hard hitting and informative.

The film however is slow, long and drags out. Perhaps 20 minutes are sufficient to highlight the points raised!

But in the end, the message is clear: "Since the end of the war Beirut keeps building", let's hope Syria gets the opportunity to do the same. And soon!

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